Rebellion of a Kingdom by G.N. Wright
Chapter 4
MARCUS
The start of tonight was perfect. I had my brothers by my side and my girl on my arm. When she walked down the stairs in that red dress, she looked like the queen of hell itself, ready to take on the world. When I found her alone with Greg, I thought I couldn’t get any angrier. The rage I felt when he was close to her, when he touched her, smelled her. It took everything in me not to kill him right there. If I’d had any idea how the rest of the night was going to pan out, I would have. Fuck the consequences.
Sitting in the car with my brothers as we listened to Jack talk about some business down at The Ring, was finally starting to relax me. He was going on about some of the members from the local motorcycle club, who had come to fight and wiped out one of our best guys. I had to admit I was impressed, but wary. Everyone knows as well as I do that the Hallowed Crows MC are controlled by Elliot Donovan. Whether by choice or force it doesn’t matter, he still has them under his thumb, so we listened to what Hanson had to say intently.
The second I heard that gunshot my world fell apart. I’ve never experienced fear like that. The thirty seconds it took me to get from the garage to Elle were the longest of my entire life. The relief I felt when I saw her was wiped out in an instant when I took in the scene before me. Zack bleeding, Elle crying, a dead body and a broken Asher. All of it unbearable to see. The moment she locked eyes with me I knew we had lost. The sight of blood had me frozen to the spot. The last time I saw someone I cared about covered in blood, it was my father.
I saw the fear etched onto her face and the terror embedded in her very bones, but she didn’t falter. She remained strong and in charge and battled against every emotion to stay in control. She’s been trained for this, she’s told me multiple times that she was, but it wasn’t until the moment she was attempting to keep her brother's blood from pouring, that I truly understood what that meant.
She hasn’t just been training to fight, she’s been training to stay alive and keep those she loves alive too. No matter the cost. The second Greg offers Cassie in exchange for her, I feel it, I know I’ve lost her to her own mind. She will do whatever it takes, be whatever it takes, as long as it results in getting her daughter back.
I get it because I would do it too. If I could trade my life right here and now for Cassie to be back in her arms, I would. I would use my last breath to give my life for hers. To protect her, protect them, whatever the cost. But the consequences of losing them both? That would be unbearable.
I watch as the van barrels away from the house on the CCTV with Cassie inside. I flick my gaze to Elle just as the van goes out of sight and prepare myself. She finally breaks. Ripping the screen off the wall and smashing it to the ground, before reaching for the other to do the same. The third one, she launches across the room into her revenge board, shattering them both to the floor.
Anything she can get her hands on gets destroyed. Her rage uncontained and bursting, she isn’t the Elle I know right now. The Elle I know, and love has ceased to exist, she stopped being her the second she walked into the house tonight and found her daughter gone.
I look at the guys and see them all watch her with the same broken expression as mine. Asher has the most powerful surname in this town. My brothers and I pretty much run the whole South Side, and Logan has the money to do whatever he wants. Yet all five of us are powerless. Metaphorically brought to our knees. Our fate entwined with that of a three-year-old girl and her mother.
Jace is the first to move to try to comfort her. He approaches her and wraps his arms around her waist from behind, ignoring her attempts to fight against him.
“Shh Elle, it’s okay. I got you.” None of us miss the crack in his voice, but still Ells continues to thrash. “Come on, sweetheart. I’m here, I got you, I promise.
She falters on hearing the word sweetheart, and I know immediately that she is thinking of Zack, he always calls her that. Her shoulders drop in defeat and he loosens his arms slightly to turn her around in his embrace until he is hugging her. The sight causes my heart to ache even more, not even my carefree brother can fix her now.
She finally reaches round to hug him back, a sob breaking out of her. She holds onto him so tight that her hands turn white against his back. I hate seeing her like this when I know I can’t do anything. I look at them both in their bloodied embrace and feel nothing but pain and regret.
I move towards them, unable to bear being away from her any longer. Jace acknowledges me immediately, dropping a kiss to her head and moving to pull away, but she doesn’t budge. I crowd behind her, letting her feel my presence as I put my arm around her shoulders. Locking eyes with Jace, I nod, and he moves with me so we can lift her until she lays in my arms. As soon as she feels the movement, she rips her arms from him and throws them around my neck and continues to cry.
I don’t even stop to look at any of the other guys as I leave the room and move through the house. I avoid the living area and make my way upstairs to her room. Her cries never stop. Not as we walk through the house, not as we reach the bathroom, not even when I step under the hot spray of the shower, still fully clothed. She cries and I hold her. I don’t know how long we stay there, huddled together under the water, but I can’t stop. I feel like my arms are holding her pieces together and if I stop for even a second, she will truly disappear.
The only sound is the water, but I swear I hear her mutter a ‘thank you’.
After I shower her and put her in some fresh clothes, she is silent. We have gone from one extreme to another. The screaming and crying have subsided and now I am left with an almost catatonic calmness. I think I preferred the crying, at least then I knew she was feeling something, letting her emotions out. Now there is nothing. No fear, no pain, no terror, just pure blankness.
I speak carefully, “It’s okay to break, baby. I’m here, I promise I won’t let the darkness take you.” I know my words probably won’t mean anything to her at this moment in time, but I can’t bear the silence.
She finally looks at me and the usual sparkle of her eyes is nowhere to be seen. She gets up slowly and without a word, leaves the room. I have no choice but to follow. I follow her until we reach Cassie’s room, and she doesn’t hesitate to push inside. I expect the crying to start again, but still nothing. She just stands and stares at the crumpled-up blankets that haven’t been made since Cassie slept here. It pains me to see them, so I know it must be breaking her.
We stand together in silence until she finally speaks. “What if we don’t get her back?” she whispers, turning to look at me. “What if all this was for nothing? Because that is what I am without her, Marcus. Nothing.”
Marcus, not River. Fuck. I’m losing her.
“She is my reason for everything, my reason for breathing.” She pauses, catching her breath, like she really can’t do it without her. “She is the reason that I can handle that fucking awful night.” No emotions cross her face as she talks, she is void of anything. “The reason that I can continue to live, the reason that I can fight, the reason that I can look into Asher’s eyes and not remember the look on his face after everything he saw.”
She says the words without the smallest sliver of pain in them, and yet every single one feels like a knife in my heart. “It was all for her. Without her I don’t know if I can survive if I want to survive. She is my lifeline and now they have her. They have my baby, River.”
A lone tear tracks down her face and I don’t think she even feels it or realizes it’s there. Her eyes remain vacant as she stares at my chest. I can’t handle it, I grab her cheeks. “Listen to me Ells,” I tilt her head back so she can’t look anywhere but in my eyes. “You cry, you scream, you shout.” I push my head against hers. “Whatever the fuck you need to do, but you do it with me. Whatever you need to do to keep fucking living. Because we are all fucking in, baby. For you. For her.” I tighten my grip. “All of us together to the very fucking end.”
I pull her into my arms until she is molded against my body fully, embracing her with everything I have. “I promise you we will get her back. I don’t care if it fucking kills me. If it’s the last thing I ever fucking do. I promise you I will bring our girl home to our family. Home to you.”
She takes a deep breath as she processes my words. Pulling back, she looks up at me this time, she seems a little lighter and she goes to speak, but the door opens, stopping her.
“Max is here.” Logan's voice is just as monotone and lost as his sister’s. I can truly see the effects this will have if we don’t get Cassie back. I look back to Elle and see the little light I saw spark back into her lifeless eyes, has disappeared once more.
She breaks out of our embrace and takes a step back, casting one last look around the room and then nods to herself before walking out. Logan and I both watch her leave without a word and then follow her, just like always. She is the center of all of us, the glue that holds us together. Yet now she is just as fucked up as the rest of us, and I don’t know if she can do this on her own.
My strong and beautiful queen is broken beyond repair and I don’t have the tools to fix her.